I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is a biography about Louie Zamperini. It recounts his life as a high school track star, an olympic athlete, and a pilot during WWII.

Hillenbrand’s first novel was Seabiscuit. Like Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand uses the story of an individual to tell the story of an era, in this case, World War II. Drawing information from over 400 sources, she describes Louie’s life in a very powerful way. I was especially moved by Louie’s confidence and his forgiving nature at the end of his life.

Louie grew up in Torrance, California. He was a restless little kid who was known for stealing and making mischief in general. Until his brother Pete convinced their principal to lift Louie’s ineligibility for sports and let him go out for track, Louie was on the path to a life of crime.

“To get even with a railcar conductor who wouldn’t stop for him, Louie greased the rails. When a teacher made him stand in a corner for spitballing, he deflated her car tires with toothpicks. After setting a legitimate Boy Scout state record in friction-fire ignition, he broke his record by soaking his tinder in gasoline and mixing it with match heads, causing a small explosion.

In a childhood of artful dodging, Louie made more than just mischief. He shaped who he would be in manhood. Confident that he was clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, he was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him.”

Hillenbrand exhibits Louie’s reckless behavior, but also shows us the positive side of his nature. She shows us that he truly is full of “resilient optimism” later when she tells us about Louie’s devotion to running track. The cleverness, resourcefulness, boldness, and optimistic components of Louie’s nature all work together to give him the internal spirit he needed to be mentally tough enough to survive the extremely harsh conditions he suffered during the war.

Hillenbrand recounts trial after trial that Louie miraculously managed to survive, not least of which was the notorious Prisoner of War (or POW for short) corporal, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, or “The Bird.”

“Each time the Bird lunged for him, Louie found his hands drawing into fists. As each punch struck him, he imagined himself strangling the Bird. The Bird demanded that Louie look him in the face; Louie wouldn’t do it. The Bird tried to knock Louie down; Louie wobbled but wouldn’t fall.

In his peripheral vision, he could see the Bird looking furiously at his clenched fists. Other prisoners warned Louie that he had to show deference or the Bird would never stop. Louie couldn’t do it. When he raised his eyes, all that shone in them was hate.”

Hillanbrand makes Louie’s resilient and bold spirit especially prevalent in this moment. She shows us that he is still just as self-motivated as he was as a child, but instead of using that self-motivation to steal from neighbors and win track races, he uses it to save his life.

The short sentences at the beginning of this passage create a more primitive-seeming relationship between the Bird and Louie: hunter and prey.

A couple months after the end of the war in Japan, Louie gets to go home. Like other veterans, Louie had a hard time adjusting to normal life. He was always haunted by nightmares of the Bird, and at first vowed to seek revenge. Toward the end of his life, however, he wrote a letter to the Bird to forgive him for all the evil things he had done to him.

“The post-war nightmares caused my life to crumble, but thanks to a confrontation with God through the evangelist Billy Graham, I committed my life to Christ. Love replaced the hate I had for you. Christ said, ‘Forgive your enemies and pray for them.’

As you probably know, I returned to Japan in 1952 and was graciously allowed to address all the Japanese war criminals at Sugamo Prison. I asked then about you, and was told that you probably had committed Hara Kiri, which I was sad to hear. At that moment, like the others, I also forgave you and now would hope that you would also become a Christian.”

The full title of this book is Unbroken: a World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. The final piece to this title, redemption, means the action of being saved from sin. Hillenbrand illuminates Louie’s resilient spirit and redemption very well in this letter. I actually had to stop reading for a while when I got to the end of it because I was so moved by Louie’s act of forgiveness after all the Bird had done to him. Louie carried his optimism and mental toughness with him throughout his entire life.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I was extremely impressed by the level of detail Hillenbrand employed and the number of sources she used to support all of those details. I haven’t read much about World War II or war in general, and so most of the book was very shocking, for instance, the conditions of the POW camps in Japan. I would recommend Unbroken to anyone who is related to a wartime veteran, since it truly reveals what the soldiers went through.

Unbroken is sincerely a story of survival. Louie pushes the boundaries of what people expect humans are capable of, and Hillenbrand tries to show that strong spirit in this biography. Louie suffered through more challenges than he or any other human being should have to suffer through.

The struggles he had and the inspiring story Hillenbrand brings to anyone who reads his biography can be applied to others’ hardships, and thus, the messages in this book are still very applicable. For instance, Hillenbrand herself contracted a lethal chronic fatigue syndrome when she was 19, and has suffered symptoms ever since.

She and Louie connected through their pain, and Louie is an inspiration to her and others with serious afflictions. Through the book Unbroken, they can find hope, and others can gain an understanding for what they are going through.